


Bad Days and Bad Dreams

by Burrahobbit



Category: Undertale (Video Game)
Genre: Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Gen, Nightmares, Papyrus-centric, Platonic Cuddling
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-06-11
Updated: 2016-06-11
Packaged: 2018-07-14 08:47:17
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,215
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7163393
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Burrahobbit/pseuds/Burrahobbit
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Everyone gets nightmares sometimes. Papyrus talks to Frisk about his, and finds that Sans knows a lot more than he lets on to. With his own brother keeping secrets from him, he questions how much people really tell him the truth. After all, even the strongest people have their doubts and breakdowns.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Bad Days and Bad Dreams

When Papyrus had nightmares, he rarely remembered what they were about. If he woke up during one, he'd be panting or crying and have no idea why. It was strange for him, to say the least, but he had gotten used to it over the years. After a nightmare, Papyrus would always go into Sans' room. Maybe he'd just watch Sans sleep, maybe he'd wake the skeleton up to talk to him for a while, or maybe he'd just curl up in bed next to his brother, like a child with its' mother. Pap wasn't a child, but sometimes Sans felt more like a parent than his real parents ever did - well, he couldn't really remember them in the first place. It was all a bit fuzzy.

There were, of course, rare occasions when he'd have a nightmare while sleeping over at Undyne's. The warrior would always make him tea after a bad dream, and try to comfort him. She didn't do as well as Sans, but she really did try to cheer her friend up. Plus, with Undyne's rowdiness from being woken up earlier than usual, he usually didn't go back to sleep until she had calmed down. Still, he knew he had people he could count on.

On the surface, bad dreams were rarer. He mostly dreamed about cruising in his beautiful new car - another reason why he brought up his racing bed. Even though some would call it childish, he found it harder to fall asleep without his bed. Not to say he couldn't, just that he had to work a little harder for it. Of course, the Great Papyrus was always up to the task, but restlessness was always better avoided.

After he came home early from a cooking lesson with Undyne - it was one of the first since the barrier had been shattered, so they were still not used to him only having to walk the short distance across the street, and overcompensated on time because of it - he heard Frisk and Sans talking in the kitchen. Usually the human would greet Papyrus when he came back. They must have not heard him, he figured out, and made to go tell them about his AMAZING lesson with Undyne. His pace slowed, however, as he reached the kitchen room, just out of sight of its residents.

"are you sure about this, frisk? cuz if you ain't..."

"Sans. I'm sure. I didn't know who he was at first, but after True Lab and the picture in your drawer, I knew I had to ask you about it."

"alright, kid, i believe ya."

"You do think it's him, right? I mean, Gaster. It's gotta be."

The name, Gaster, it made Papyrus' head go dizzy and weird. He remembered flashes of things - a pristine lab, his brother, a smiling face, a hand touching his shoulder and promising that everything would be okay. They didn't make any sense.

"so when- oh, pap, didn't know you'd be home so early," Sans said, but the words sounded far away and unfocused to his brother.

"YES, I... I APOLOGIZE FOR NOT LETTING YOU KNOW WHEN I GOT IN." Papyrus felt weak, but his head was clearing at least.

"Papyrus, are you alright?" Frisk asked. The child reached out to him, but he flinched away. Why did he flinch? He didn't feel like he should be this on edge.

The memories, though. They were still fresh in his head.

"I'M FINE. JUST A HEADACHE. I THINK I'LL GO SLEEP EARLY TONIGHT." The tall monster didn't wait for a reply, climbing the stairs to his room and flopping down on his wonderful red bed. Quicker than he'd guessed, he slipped off into an uneasy rest. He woke up from a nightmare only a few hours later. Unlike most times, he remembered something. A solitary, smiling face, with cracks running from its' eyes. The image made him shudder and tip-toe into Sans' room, where he curled up on his brother's mattress. Sans was hiding something from him - Papyrus could guess that much - but no matter what, it wouldn't change the comfort he always felt around his brother, despite Sans' bad habits and lazy ways. Sans was hard to wake up, and barely even noticed the movement in his sleep.

Papyrus laid there for a long time, trying to go back to sleep. He found that the longer he thought about the dream, the more uneasy it made him feel. As the young skeleton became more restless, he decided to do something proactive to get his mind off of it. Glancing as the clock in the kitchen, he found it was 2:41 AM. That meant he only had to wait a few more hours until everyone got up. Well, except Sans. He usually didn't get up until much later, but Papyrus couldn't be too mad at him for it. They were all adjusting to life on the Surface - this was just Sans' way of coping.

Papyrus pulled at the hem of his shirt as he quietly made his way around the house, trying to find something to do. He froze up at the sight of someone on the couch, before realizing that it was Frisk. The skeleton sat down beside his human friend, watching the hand-held game system they were playing with.

"Shouldn't you be in bed?" Papyrus asked quietly, a strange contrast to his usual excited shouting.

Frisk stopped their game and looked up at him. "I could ask the same."

Crossing his arms, Pap shook his head. "I'm an adult. I can do what I want."

With a roll of their eyes, Frisk was now crossing their arms along with him. "Barely an adult." Their smile faded, and they put their game console on the coffee table. "I just... Had a bad dream. Couldn't sleep after that."

Papyrus uncrossed his arms and let them settle in his lap. He stared down at the bright red gloves covering them. "Me too," he admitted. The child carefully moved his arms and replaced them, sitting on Pap's legs. They looked a little shaken up about whatever they were thinking of, so the skeleton wrapped his arms around them. The two sat in silence, hugging each other in comfort.

"Do you want to talk about it?" Frisk asked. Papyrus' shrug answered their question.

"I'm not sure. Do you?"

"I... I don't know if I should." A hand on Frisk's back, Pap gave his friend a small smile.

"You can tell me anything."

"...The nightmare," they started after a pause. "It was about a monster, someone who has been fragmented through space and time. He was staring down at me - just staring - and I was screaming. I couldn't look away from him, no matter how hard I tried."

"W-what... what did he look like?"

Frisk, while a bit suspicious of the question, was ever-patient. They pulled out a small notebook and pencil, and drew out the monster as best they could. Papyrus quietly gasped when they showed him.

"I had a very similar nightmare to yours, except in mine, he was just watching me. Wherever I would go, he would follow."

"Do you know who he is?" For what it was worth, Frisk at least worded the question pretty vaguely. If he hadn't known better, it would have seemed like an innocent enough question.

"It's all really fuzzy. I feel like he's familiar. Do you know him?"

And now that the tables were turned, Frisk was nervously looking anywhere but at the skeleton. "I, uh, have seen him in the Waterfall before, but he disappeared before I could ask anything." That wasn't exactly a lie, but it wasn't the whole truth either.

Despite the feeling in his gut that he should just let it go, Papyrus pushed on. "I heard you and Sans talking about him yesterday, before you knew I was home," he admitted, much quieter.

"Oh." A flash of realization crossed over Frisk's face. "Oh."

As they tried to think of a reply, Papyrus recognized why they didn't tell him. They must have thought he was too stupid to understand it, or that he would have made a mess of things. His fists clenched tightly, and he fought against the lump in his throat. _They all hate me_ , he thought. _They hate me and I'm nothing but a nuisance. Fantastic job, 'Great' Papyrus_.

"We just weren't sure if it was anything important. I don't even have the whole story out of Sans yet."

"How..." Papyrus felt his voice crack, but he refused to break down. "How much do you know?"

"Well," Frisk got their facts all together in their head before revealing anything. "He's a monster, a man who fell into his own creation. He used to be the Royal Scientist, before his accident. I think you and Sans knew him. Do you not remember anything...?"

The headache from earlier returned with a vengeance as he tried to remember something. "I, I don't..." One hand was carefully rubbing his skull to try to alleviate the ache, and the other was curled close to his ribs. "It hurts, when I think about it."

Frisk's expression softened, and they quickly fetched him some magical medicine for it. The headache still thrummed, but it was dulled.

"Thank you."

After putting the medicine back, the child sat down next to papyrus, uncurling his hand at his chest and holding it tightly. "Don't be afraid. I'm here for you."

The reassurance was appreciated by Papyrus, even if it was tainted with possible lies. At least his friends still cared enough about him make an attempt at keeping him complacent. _Stupid, worthless, arrogant_ , he monologued internally. Frisk's eyes went wide, staring at him, and Papyrus wondered what had happened. The human wiped below his eye socket, their fingers coming back damp. He was crying, of all things.

"Oh, I-I'm sorry."

Frisk hugged him as tightly as their little arms could manage. "Is... Is it the dream you're upset about, or something else?"

Those simple, caring words set him off into full sobbing, because how dare he think bad things about his friends when they were only trying to protect him, even if their worry was misplaced. He shouldn't assume they were lying just because they were being mean - the mere suggestion made him shameful. Frisk's waiting face reminded him that he still hadn't answered the question.

"B-both, I suppose."

The human rubbed the crying skeleton's back rhythmically, letting him sob out his worries. He could only hope he wouldn't wake Sans at this rate.

"Do you want to tell me what else you're upset about?"

Papyrus shook his head. He was too ashamed, he couldn't let Frisk know he doubted them. Strong, optimistic Papyrus wasn't supposed to do that.

"Do you want to tell me why?"

Sniffling and wheezing, Papyrus shrugged. After calming down a bit, he spoke. "It's s-stupid, and petty."

"If it's making you this upset, then it's not stupid."

Papyrus could have just as easily not responded, but he wanted to tell Frisk. He wanted to be truthful.

"I j-just... I was mad at you and Sans for lying to me, and I thought you were just doing it to be mean, but you've been so nice to me ever since I met you, and it made me ashamed of thinking of you like that. And... a bit of, um, self-loathing had something to do with it, I suppose."

It took a moment for all of this to sink in. Silence filled the room during this time before Frisk spoke again. "But, Papyrus, you're the most confident person I know."

"I'm not," the skeleton disagreed, moving his hands closer to his body, like he was trying to protect himself. "I'm arrogant, stupid, and no one likes me."

"Sans, Undyne, and Alphys all like you. I like you."

More tears trickled down Papyrus' cheeks. "Y-you don't have to lie about it just to make me feel better. Everyone is just humoring me - I know that."

"I do, though. I like how confident you are in yourself, how goofy you are, and how much you believe in other people."

The compliments made happiness creep up in the monster's head. "R-really?"

"Of course. You're one of my favorite people."

Papyrus smiled a bit at this. "Thank you. You're one of my favorite people as well." He looked up at the clock, realizing that they had been sitting there for almost 40 minutes. "You should probably get back to bed if you want to get any more sleep."

"Are you sure you'll be alright by yourself?" 

Considering the question, Papyrus glanced up at his room. "Could you, uh, sleep with me? Just so I'll know you're safe, of course!"

Frisk giggled at the excuse, nodding their head. "Of course. I could really use the company anyways."

The two tired figures quietly climbed the stairs and ambled into Papyrus' race car bed. The bed was, gladly, big enough for both of them. The child snuggled up next to Papyrus, finding that laying next to him wasn't as uncomfortable as one might expect. In fact, they found themselves relaxing considerably.

"Hey, Pap?" they whispered groggily. 

"Yes?"

"I love you."

Smiling sleepily, Papyrus held a little tighter to Frisk. "Love you too."

**Author's Note:**

> Just something short to get the hang of writing Papyrus. Any tips would be appreciated! Still getting used to all these characters, really.  
> Also, why are there not more Papyrus-centric fics? This problem needs to be remedied.


End file.
